Fontiama
Name: Fontiama, Merciful Hand of Thorns. Age: Dead Known Affiliations: The Thanatocracy of Kemuliaan ' Physical Description: ' Her presumably frail and desiccated corpse is sealed safely within an imposing upright iron sarcophagus. It is exquisitely engraved and embossed with gold, depicting a beautiful matronly woman with an expression that, while probably intended to be neutral, gives the impression of amused contempt. In one hand the figure holds an ornately stylized shepherd's crook (a Kemulese symbol of high office) and a noose fashioned from a thorny vine in the other. Personality: To say that she delights in strategy and riddles understates the depth of her hunger. Her compulsive need for games of cunning mirrors that of a drunkard's need for the bottle. As such she can not and will not tolerate idleness. This tendency alone has led to her extraordinary political success over the centuries. If she'd only won her status though ambition, perhaps she'd be content to rest, to lay back and bask in the tide of sycophancy and bribes. Instead she schemes and maneuvers endlessly. Today she redeems a monster into a saint, just to watch him go mad with regret. Tomorrow she corrupts a moral idealist into a criminal conspirator, just to expose and condemn him. Strangely though, her successes often bore or even frustrate her. She's never truly happy unless challenged. Woe betide those who outmaneuver or surprise her, for they've just made a very dangerous sort of friend. History: You can read a very long dry recounting of her career in any history text anywhere in the city. Only certain restricted material or forgotten tomes moldering somewhere in the vast shelves of the Academy Library leave in the suspicious spooky stuff with all the blood, weeping, and blood weeping. Advantages: '-Kemulese Mummy (0) (Advantage/Disadvantage)' She is dead and physically immobile in her heavy iron sarcophagus, she requires daily prayers and burnt offerings (normally incense) for sustenance, but her spirit has remained palpably potent for centuries, time enough to have personally witnessed (and possibly shaped) modern history. '-Followers (1)' Mummification is reserved for, and required by, all persons of status and importance in Kemuliaan society. As such, Fontiama is provided with a well equipped honor guard and domestic servants befitting her standing. '-Expanded Perspective (I)' No light or sound penetrates the confines of her sarcophagus, yet she can stretch her perception for miles in any given direction. Unfortunately, she can only observe one location at a given time. Furthermore, simple holy wards or a ring of salt are enough to block her gaze entirely. Those with Gifts related to insight or competent arcane training can detect her observing them. '-Voice of the Dead (I)' Fontiama can make her will known to the living through dreams and inspiration. If one allows their mind to wander in her presence they will find themselves imagining her gentle voice whispering to them. Some claim to have had visions of her in mortal form while sleeping or meditating. From a great distance, with all her concentration she's been known to 'speak' loudly enough to overwrite the will of simple minds. She might compel an inebriated simpleton to stammer out a few cryptic phrases or induce a rat to steal a ring and carry it across the street. '-Institution (I)' She has served as an honored dignitary of Kemuliaan (an invaluable trading partner) to Azhahad since time immemorial. She has spun countless webs of intrigue over the centuries and is owed a significant number of multi-generational debts. Many regard her as an all but indispensable pillar of the modern government, or at the very least a massively influential power broker. Story Elements: -The Thanatocracy of Kemuliaan Kemuliaan is a precious jewel set in the vast desert to the immediate west of Azhahad. Those who seek passage from the lush kingdoms of the distant west into Azhahad, and the eastern lands beyond, first take rest and refuge from the heat and sand in Kemuliaan. This ancient nation state has two main eccentricities. First, it has virtually no natural resources other than hospitality and wisdom. The entertainments, food, drink, and professionally trained 'bedroom company' are without peer almost anywhere else in the world. The Memorial Library of Velikan I is indisputably the most ancient and comprehensive in the world. For these reasons military conquest of the region has never been a priority to just about any with any kind of sense, as violence only risks destroying the only things worth taking. The other eccentricity is their unusually strict requirements for high office. Before taking any position of real importance in the Thanatocracy, the candident must be gutted alive in an arduious ritual of mumification that, if successful, forces the subject to remain consious and aware thoughout and beyond their own death. While this does tend to weed out those lacking a certain degree of conviction, there are... side effects.